Sunday morning Supersport smash at Winton

Motul Supersport Race One Report

Images by Andrew Gosling

Ted Collins on the grid at Winton

The opening 13-lap Supersport bout got underway at 1025 this morning in fine weather at Winton Motor Raceway. For not the first time this weekend, four bikes went down in the entry to the tricky left-right combination that is the opening sequence of turns at the 3km circuit. All riders were up and okay, but for most of them that will be their morning run and done, as they were left to watch the re-start from the pits. Riders that went down included Rhys Belling, Aidan Hayes and John Quinn. Count the dollars as John Quinn’s ZX-6R repeatedly tumbled in the sequence below shot by Andrew Gosling.

At the re-start, with a shortened 12-lap race distance, Ted Collins got off the line well from pole but was gazumped between turns one and two by Mark Chiodo on the Repsol sponsored Triumph Daytona 675. A smart move by Chiodo as he has witnessed first hand the clear track pace of Collins here this weekend, and knew he must get in front of the NextGen Motorsports Suzuki man if he was going to prevent him from being able to get away from him.

That pair were clearly the class of the field in this Supersport opener, both riders in the 1m29s from a standing start, backed up by a 1m24.3 on the second lap. Collins showed a massive set of brakes entering turn one for the third time, breezing past Chiodo with apparent ease.

Mark Chiodo leads Ted Collins on lap two at Winton

Collins had indicated his determination at the start of that third lap, and finished that lap just as he started, making everyone else look as though they were in a different competition, an incredible 1m22.806 to Collins on that lap three, backed up with a 1m22.896 on the next time around the circuit. Those times seven-tenths quicker than he managed in qualifying! Those times would have also put him 14th on the Superbike grid!

Mark Chiodo had to give up the chase of Collins and try and settle for good points. By the halfway point of the race Chiodo was four-seconds behind Collins, but enjoyed a handy six-second lead over Sam Muldoon. The best on-track battle unfolding was over fourth place, with Nic Liminton, Damon Rees and Sam Lambert the protagonists.

The second half of the race saw riders struggling with tyre wear, and some riders managing that challenge better than others. The pace of the leading duo had drifted back to the 1m25s with three laps remaining. Chiodo had actually backed it off a little too far on the last lap, as the battle for third place closed him down, Lambert, Liminton and Muldoon were engaged in heady battle for third, but now saw Chiodo in front of them and a sniff of a possible second place.

Chiodo held on for second place, perhaps realising the closing proximity of his pursuers, and managed to cross the line with a handy few bike lengths over Sam Lambert, who had got the better of Liminton and Muldoon on the last lap to clinch the final step on the rostrum.

Ted Collins though, in a race of his own here this morning. Under lap record pace, not once, but multiple times, and a clear race winner by seven-seconds.

Ted Collins

“A bit of carnage into turn one, just tucked in behind Mark and waited for the right moment. Then just managed the gap from the pitboard and so stoked to get another win.”